scapegrace

PRONUNCIATION:

(SKAYP-grays)

MEANING:

noun: A scoundrel; a mischievous person.

ETYMOLOGY:

Describing one who has supposedly escaped the grace of god. Earliest
documented use: 1809.

USAGE:

“Scrope Berdmore Davies was a perfect specimen of his time and station:
a rogue, a rakehell, a scapegrace, and a scofflaw, but in no wise a cad,
a bounder, a cutpurse, or a poltroon.”
Doug Fetherling; High Life in Low Resorts with Byron and the Boys;
The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jul 10, 1982.